The third room is easy, it's the fourth room where it becomes problematic. I haven't yet found a proper way to complete it, the only thing I thought of was spindash-jumping out of one of the pipes to the exit. But no, the third room was awesome, just like the first two ones. Hell, even the fourth one is probably great, I just haven't found the solution yet. Great puzzle map, but incidentally an awful Race map.

The third room is easy, it's the fourth room where it becomes problematic. I haven't yet found a proper way to complete it, the only thing I thought of was spindash-jumping out of one of the pipes to the exit. But no, the third room was awesome, just like the first two ones. Hell, even the fourth one is probably great, I just haven't found the solution yet. Great puzzle map, but incidentally an awful Race map.

Fourth room is the same as the third one, except taken to an extreme. You need to get to the right altitude in order to just walk into the exit, but to do that, you need to first be at another altitude, but first you need to figure out how to get at THAT altitude etc etc. And yes, you can cheat. I got fed up with the map so I just submitted it for the sake of not ending up having wasted my time.

It's not even a "great puzzle map", it's just bad. The first two rooms have a completely different dynamic to the latter two and I wish I had possessed the inspiration/attention span to design two more rooms creatively like those.

Fourth room is the same as the third one, except taken to an extreme. You need to get to the right altitude in order to just walk into the exit, but to do that, you need to first be at another altitude, but first you need to figure out how to get at THAT altitude etc etc.

Yeah, I know how the room works in general, but I can't find the platform with the right altitude. Then again, I didn't try much. Whatever, this concept is awesome and badly needs a good map to go along with it.

Medivo Zone by Glaber - 4/10
- Level design is still rather square and bland
- Made of around 5 textures, please add some more
- Went around in a circle once due to poor level design
- Though, there are some interesting points.

Frosty Floe Zone by Brawl - 7/10
- As been said before, please just use MAP01
- Please have the beginning of the level against the wall, I got stuck between the thok barrier and the actual level.
- Ohey 2D mode- owait no.
- Oh lord, DECENT TEXTURE VARIATION!
- That little pit with the Sharps shouldn't have so many rings
- Trees look nice, and the falling icicles are interesting
- Yet again, reduce the rings on the secret Sharp pits.
- Some REDWALL here and there because of wall issues.
- Bad texturing near the end.

Uh, Brawl's map seems to have some uncredited co-author. Do any of you remember SRB2EmeraldChaos? Well yeah, that map obviously dates back to then, and unless Brawl did that one alone, I'd say that's not exactly nice etiquette. So, what does XSpeedGodX have to say about this?

Not only that, but his previous entries, which were most likely made after and for the contest, were even WORSE and unanimously HORRENDOUS. It's almost impossible to think the quality of his work could drop so low. Also, the map is even older than SRB2 Emerald Chaos (if memory serves), and it is 100% possible that he took it from XSGX or whoever when they joined his team, put it in his mod, did some minor changes, then submitted it in this contest. And given what we know of him in IRC, it's safe to say he would do something like this. Unless XSGX comes to his defense, I refuse to believe this was genuinely a sole effort on his part, and possibly almost none of his work at all.

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<Nekoishi> HOW DO YOU JUST NOT NOTICE GIGANTIC BREASTS
<RedEnchilada> I remained ignorant to a set of titanic breasts for 17 years!

I found it rather confusing and boring as I played this.
There was some small platforms to jump on which made it annoying.

Medivo Zone by glaber3/10
I found it very confusing, and constantly got lost, many times I thought I was going the wrong way.

Frosty Floe Zone by Brawl5/10
What the? Greenflo-
Oh map B5...
Anyway, the 2d intro was nice and that was about it.
Everything was big and bland.Multiplayer with Screenies

Match:
MAPM1 - Northern Desert Zone by nightmare cenz/123 Runite9/10
What can I say that would make this map better? Almost nothing.
and that something is this.
All the 3D cacti are the same height and shape.

MAPM2 - Digital Forest Zone by Metal Fighter6/10
Gah! Music Hurt!!

This is pretty odd. It slows me down, which gets me hurt :(
make it more open please.

CTF:
MAPF1 - Frosted Meadows Zone by Nitrous Bunny3/10
Lags in wide areas
Close in the large "gate" a bit.

Clashing textures is a no see if you can make it "blend in" more

I don't know how. but I think there is a way to go through it one way and not the other way.
Please do that for the bridges. As you can see I always seems to hit my head ;-;

The reason this is unplayable is because Sonic can't make it to the other side of the base without getting wet.
This needs other routes to that don't involve water.
Plus, Ammo anyone? There where like only panels.
Plus in addtion. I don't think anything was really deaf'd

MAPF3 - Heinous Hidehole Zone by RedEchidna5/10
Get rid of the cage/fence and I would double your score.
That is all

Circuit:
MAPR1 - Stupid Circuit Zone by Neo Chaotikal0/10
What the crap is this... Crap?
It would have been better as a segment in a level for 1p mode
plus texture variation?

Wow this contest was pretty bad.

I am really disappoint in all of you. (especially you Neo! I know you could of done better.)

Rainy Jungle Zone by A Cat - 2/10
Your biggest problem here is that you don't know what's fun for other people to play. Go get a general sense of what fun is, then come back and talk to us and we'll help you with the finer nuances of level design.

Frosted Meadows Zone by Nitrous Bunny - 2/10
-Yes, let's just make a flat CTF rectangle, add some useless areas for hiding/camping, and dress it up. I don't think so.
-One pity point for having the forethought to put stairs in front of the flag so it can't be camped AS easily

<~Scizor300> tell me, what is gfzrock doing here
<~Scizor300> I don't recall seeing it on the guest list

Dead Canyon Zone Act 1 Canyon CTF Zone Act 2 by A Cat - 0/10
-Had a laugh when I saw the act number
-I am not even going to begin to justify this with any comment, especially not for someone who's just been sent on a year's cruise away from the forums.

Heinous Hidehole Zone by RedEchidna - 5/10
-Not too shabby for a last-hour rush job, though it's pretty thok-forward
-The fences make for some lulzy chases after the flag carrier if you're clever
-For future reference, no team rings outside of the flag room means the enemy can swarm all over your base and there's basically nothing you can do about it

==CIRCUIT

Stupid Circuit Zone by Neo - 4/10
-I wasn't going to bother voting on this since it has no competition, but since it's just getting zeroes, I have no choice. It's not Canyon CTF, people :\
-In addition to what Mystic said, you might have served yourself a little better if the subtitle warned you not to spindash instead...
-Postcards from hell!:

(which would be why you don't spindash)

Notice the lap counter at 0? Inu forgot to set it back, so...

And finally, because Inu begged, this was about the result every time in match/CTF:

[03:38] <Mystic> I'm so out of practice. I got beaten down by a hanyou

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[16:44] <Mystic> actually, Deep Sea is filled with the tears of kids banned from the forums

-I am not even going to begin to justify this with any comment, especially not for someone who's just been sent on a year's cruise away from the forums.

IIRC you rate how the map is played, not who the author is.
You could at least give some criticism.

Quote:

Stupid Circuit Zone by Neo - 4/10
-I wasn't going to bother voting on this since it has no competition, but since it's just getting zeroes, I have no choice. It's not Canyon CTF, people :\
-In addition to what Mystic said, you might have served yourself a little better if the subtitle warned you not to spindash instead...

I don't think it even deserves this much.
It is completely unfair for Sonic
And if you need setlives to play this level then it is bad!

Quote:

-I wasn't going to bother voting on this since it has no competition, but since it's just getting zeroes, I have no choice.

Waaiit you're ONLY rating this a # BECAUSE it's getting zeroes?
What the heck?

IIRC you rate how the map is played, not who the author is.
You could at least give some criticism.

a) he's banned for a year so he won't read it anyway (right?)
b) Every element of the map is so laughably bad it's almost not worth description
c) You may as well criticise Mystic too since he didn't see the point either.

Quote:

I don't think it even deserves this much.
It is completely unfair for Sonic
And if you need setlives to play this level then it is bad!

It's difficult. Not unclearable without 99 lives. Try not rushing.

Quote:

Waaiit you're ONLY rating this a # BECAUSE it's getting zeroes?
What the heck?

If a couple people in IRC were any indication, they were trying to set it up to be the first map to win a division with a score of 0, a funny statistic but one it is not deserving of.

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[16:44] <Mystic> actually, Deep Sea is filled with the tears of kids banned from the forums

There's this thing called immersion. A map needs good visuals to interest the player and make him feel "comfortable", for the lack of a better term. Medivo uses one texture and thus feels like a test map rather than an actual level. So yeah, visuals affect how well a map plays, and not just purely functionally.

I liked Medivo's square aesthetic. The rest of the map was ugly, but I have a passion for orderly, square things. So that square aesthetic almost raised my vote for the map, because I hand out my scores wholistically after I get a feel for the map.

__________________[scr_bz4pack.wad] — I get an email whenever you PM me, if you ever want to say hi.

Visuals definitely matter in how a stage plays. Now, you shouldn't rate something down if the stage is just ugly without being detrimental to gameplay, but if the textures make it hard to see or the visual style of the map makes the secrets too obvious because they're the only spots in the map with detail, that's detrimental to the gameplay of the stage.

Oh!!! GOD!!! This contest was a catastrophe!! But let's start with the ratings:

Rainy Jungle Zone by A Cat: 1/10
Oh, please, why did you put this map in this contest instead of guarding and improving it for the next? This level had completely NOTHING to do, I just jumped,killed some enemies,passed through rooms full of nothing,got lost, and finished the level, and your broken bridges didn't save you so much points, they're inserted there just to fill up some space and entertain the player for one moment. And this ONE moment of fun gave you ONE point.Your visuals wasn't that good too and the DSZ textures part wasn't necessary, so, this is my permanent rating.

Medivo Zone by glaber: 1/10
This level could be MUCH better if all the level wasn't red,red,red,red,red,red,red,red..... Your pseudo slopes wasn't very well used, because I had to accelerate to pass them, and there was not enough space to do this. And man..... I got lost lots and lots of times, the incomplete museum was completely unnecessary, I just wasted my time there, and your polyobject platforming was useless, since I could pass it with a simple thok. And to combine with the completely red textures and the uselessness of this confusing level, there was some cannon balls and springs in the front of egg guards, so that I can't avoid them, and finnaly, the lack of fun in this level. I was thinking on give you only one point,so...... I'll give you only one point, but to let you know, my real rate is 1.5 points for you, but I can't give broken points.

Frosty Floe Zone by Brawl: 4/10
What?? Jettysyns IN the water??? Why didn't they broke??
The 2d start was good, the first and second rooms too.... but then, the level was being worse and worse, and the flame throwers part didn't fit very well(but I liked). But your visuals are very good, and with that, I have nothing more(bad things) to say, except that the falling ice was annoying and the ice spikes didn't to nothing at all. So, this is my rate.

Now, you shouldn't rate something down if the stage is just ugly without being detrimental to gameplay

I disagree. I would give ERZ2 a rating of 10/10, but if it was ugly as sin and didn't look like a space station, I would rate it down. Another example would be THZ1, which looks awful but the visual don't really detract from the gameplay. Still, even if the gameplay was perfect (which it isn't), I would still give it a lower score if I were to rate it. Visuals are as much an indicator of quality as gameplay (though gameplay is of course more important).